Massage Oil Stains on Sheets

How do you get large massage oil stains out of sheets? These stains are practically full body imprints! They are faint, but visible and too large to spot treat. We've added degreaser to the wash, tried dawn dish liquid to spot treat, but nothing has worked. My daughter was hired to wash sheets twice weekly from a local massage therapist. Some of these stains have been washed and dried many times.

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The massage therapist actually recommended we try 1 cup of detergent, plus 1 cup of oxyclean, plus 1 can of coke. However, we have a front loader machine that cannot handle that volume of cleaner! And wouldn't coke discolor white sheets? Some of the sheets are white, off white, sage green, and dark purple.

Julie from Pasco, WA

Answers:

Massage Oil Stains on Sheets

I have always had the best luck removing greasy stains from clothing with plain powder Tide. Use at least the maximum amount recommended and the very hottest water you can get. I routinely use liquid Tide but for the really bad stuff I use the powder version. I've found that when I use the powder version I need to do one additional rinse because it just doesn't completely rinse all the detergent out with one rinse. To me the extra rinse is a small price to pay because it does get things really clean. (10/05/2006)

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By Grandma Margie

Massage Oil Stains on Sheets

Sorry! When I first read your post, the part about you owning a front load machine didn't show up, but now that I've seen that, I realize that my advise won't help you. I suppose you could try it at a coin operated laundromat in a top load machine. Anyway, good luck and I hope something works. (10/05/2006)

By Grandma Margie

Massage Oil Stains on Sheets

I can't say if it is safe to put large amounts of detergent in a front loader (I know it can get too sudsy and the machine will try its hardest to reduce the suds before it gives up on the load), but if you want to add a lot of detergent, just put it in the tub with the clothes. Like old-fashioned machines. ;-) (10/07/2006)

Massage Oil Stains on Sheets

Maybe try Fels-Naptha soap. My brother had motor oil on a pair of dockers. I soaked my bar of soap in some warm water, wet the area that was stained, and rubbed the area with the softed soap, and all of the grease raised to the surface, and I just scraped it off and laundered it. The stain was gone. (10/09/2006)

By Shannon

Massage Oil Stains on Sheets

I have good results with De Solv It, it's a real gentle spray. I think you can find it in the cleaning section at Wal-mart, I haven't used it for massage oil but other grease spots come right out (even if they've already been washed and dried). (10/14/2006)